Charles Luckman

In 1937, at age 27, he was featured on the cover of Time Magazine as the Boy Wonder of American industry. In 1946, three years after Pepsodent was acquired by Lever Brothers, Mr. Luckman became Lever's president. While at Lever Brothers, Mr. Luckman proved himself a distinguished patron of modern architecture by masterminding the creation of the company's new headquarters on Park Avenue. In 1950, he left Lever Brothers to form his own firm, the Luckman Partnership with the Los Angeles architect William Pereira. Based in California, the firm specialized in office buildings, airports and Air Force bases, and also designed the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas. In the early 1960's he was hired to design the new Madison Square Garden Center for the site then occupied by Penn Station. In 1968, the year the Garden complex opened, Mr. Luckman went into the development business. He sold his firm to the Ogden Corporation, a major real estate developer in Southern California, and became president of its subsidiary, Ogden Development. He died at his home in Los Angeles in January 1999 at the age of 89.He was survived by his wife, Harriet; three sons, Charles, Jr., of Falbrook, Calif., James, of Ketchum, Idaho, and Stephen, of Cochella, Calif.; eight grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.